


Celestial Metaphor

by rileywrites



Category: Robin Hood (2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Slice of Life, War flashbacks, fuck if i know, mentions of Clayton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-28 23:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16732506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileywrites/pseuds/rileywrites
Summary: Marian is the sun.Robin had been simply drifting from day to day since his mother died, dealing with the affairs of Loxley Manor and the village, but nothing mattered.Not until he finds Marian attempting to steal his horse. She insults him without realizing, explaining that the spoiled toff who sits in the manor won't miss a horse.She's right. He won't.





	Celestial Metaphor

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome friends as I dive into the abyss of a newborn fandom.

Marian is the sun.

Robin had been simply drifting from day to day since his mother died, dealing with the affairs of Loxley Manor and the village, but nothing mattered.

Nothing made him smile, not even the beautiful people who warmed his bed when he went to town, the miller's daughter and the blacksmith's daughter and the baker's daughter and the cobbler's son and the apothecary's daughter and the doctor's wife.

Not until he finds Marian attempting to steal his horse. She insults him without realizing, explaining that the spoiled toff who sits in the manor won't miss a horse.

She's right. He won't.

He doesn't expect her to come back once she's delivered the horse to her neighbor, still swathed in fabric hiding her identity until the door to Loxley Manor swings closed behind her.

"You should take me to bed," she breathes, smiling with her eyes before it ever reaches her distracting mouth. "I feel like I should repay your generosity."

"You earned that horse," Robin points out. He doesn't deal in favors if he can help it.

"Fine then. Take me to bed so I may have my way with you, because your spoiled, pompous face just begs to be fucked stupid."

Well.

Robin may not be the smartest man ever, but he isn't dumb enough to tell this beautiful woman no.

That night is the first of many that Marian spends in Rob's bed. She brings light to the manor, a breath of fresh air to brighten up the tapestries and dark corridors.

She always leaves in the morning to go back to town, to the pub her brother owns and her stew pots. 

Robin always misses her when she's gone.

The villagers notice the change in his demeanor.

"Lord Robin, sir, far be it from me to argue with progress, but what brings you out to help an old woman with her chores?" Old Mab asks, placing vegetables in the wheelbarrow Robin is pushing. 

"I heard your Reggie was sick, and I figured I could help fill his place for the day, dear woman. I'm not one to enjoy watching someone struggle with too great a weight to bear." Robin stops to catch a rogue turnip as it goes whirling off the wheelbarrow. "As for what brings me to this progress… I've found love."

"Ah yes, the maid Marian of Nottingham." Old Mab smiles knowingly. "Us old people know all, my Lord. I am glad to see she can bring such a smile to your face. Now if only you could marry her, and bring a young Loxley to run around and bother us as you did in your youth."

"Trust me, Mab, I have Friar Tuck on standby. I'll wed her the moment she agrees to it."

…

Marian is the North Star.

Robin is sent off to war, to dust and pain and blood and regret, to heat and sand and death and agony.

His every waking moment is spent trying to get back to her.

His every dreaming moment is spent either in her arms a thousand miles away or in the heat of battle again and again and again.

The guys tease him for his infatuation over a woman who isn't even his wife (not for want of trying), for his longing-filled stories and quiet moments alone -- except for Clayton. 

Clayton is so young, so naïve when they arrive. The shine knocks off of him quickly, but the youth never quite hardens.

"Rob. Rob, wake up." Clayton shakes him awake from a nightmare. "You're okay. Marian is safe at home in England, remember?"

He must have been talking in his sleep.

"Right, of course." Robin holds his arm out without thinking, and Clayton settles on his side, tucked under Robin's arm. "Thank you."

Clayton doesn't say anything for a long moment.

"I'd like to meet her someday, Rob."

"You will. When you come to Loxley Manor, remember? You'll come stay for as long as you like, and no one will care that you're the fourth son."

"Because I'm the one that matters to you, right?"

Robin holds him that little bit closer.

"That’s right."

Marian will love him. She's always been protective, and the boy needs protecting.

Robin can hear her already.

_"You've brought me a new toy, hm? Is he to be the new stable hand I was promised? He's beautiful, Rob."_

And Clayton will blush clear up to his forehead and stumble over his words to impress her, because he's still a kid.

He's just a kid.

"I'll bring us both home to you, Marian. I promise."

…

Marian is the moon.

In the darkness of the Hood's revenge, the goal of gaining her love is a much needed light.

When the dreams come, the vision of Clayton hanging by his ankles, the sounds of John's son screaming for mercy, the echoes of pain in his torso around his bolt wound, Marian's voice is what draws him from it.

He wakes in the dark, cold reality of Loxley Manor without her, but she's still the one who keeps him from madness.

Even when she's with another, she's Robin's light in the darkness.

When the façade of Loxley threatens to strangle everything that makes him Robin, memories of Marian come rushing back.

_"Robin, darling, come back to bed. It's Sunday, and Tuck will forgive us one Sunday." Marian grabs his hand and tugs him back into bed. "Stay with me? Please? Let the cook handle dinner, no one will go hungry in Loxley Village while you lie in."_  

_"How could I tell you no? Why would I bother trying?"_

He's doing this for a reason.

Swallowing down bile and kissing the Sheriff's ego for a reason.

Playing along with the part of a bigoted bastard for a reason.

Playing dumb for a reason.

In the darkness of his deceit, Marian lights the way.

…

In the hole beneath the streets of Nottingham, barely cognizant due to a bolt in his chest (again, Jesus), Robin runs out of metaphors.

All that matters is that Marian is _here._  

**Author's Note:**

> Please, if you are one of the three (3) other people who has fallen in love with this movie, leave a comment or a tumblr handle. We need to find each other.


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